Trecherous
by rugrat4eva
Summary: I can't decide if it's a choice, getting swept away. I hear the sound of my own voice asking you to stay. And all we are is skin and bone trained to get along. Forever going with the flow, but you're friction. This slope is treacherous. This path is reckless. This slope is treacherous. And I like it. Starts during Season 2 of TVD. Damon/OC, Stelena pairings
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

There was a deafening silence in the air as Stefan walked with Damon, Elena, and Bonnie to the site of the dead witches on a normal fall day in Mystic Falls. As they approached the decrepit house, Bonnie paused outside and stared intently at it.

"What's wrong, Bonnie?" Elena asked and Bonnie shook her head. "I can't put my finger on it but something's different." She said and Stefan looked over questioningly. "How so?" He asked and Damon rolled his eyes. "Can we just get this over with?" He said and begun to walk into the house but screamed in pain as his skin began to burn. "Witches don't like to be rushed." Bonnie said as she walked passed him with Stefan and Elena close behind. "I'll just stand guard I guess." Damon said as he went back outside, mumbling incoherent insults to himself.

Once they were downstairs, Bonnie began looked around. "What?" Stefan asked as Bonnie stood in the center of the room. "Someone's here." She said and Elena's eyes got big. "Who?" She asked and Bonnie sighed. "Another witch." Stefan leaned against the wall. "How can you tell?" He asked and Bonnie sat and closed her eyes. "I can feel the energy. It's strong." She said and Elena looked around the empty room confused.

"I don't see anyone, Bonnie." Bonnie looked over at her friend and shook her head. "Not here here. But here in Mystic Falls." She responded and the brunette nodded in understanding. "Why would they tell you that?" She asked and Bonnie just shrugged. "They don't believe she's a threat." She replied and Stefan looked up at her. "She? How do you know it's a she?" He asked and Elena shushed him as Bonnie continued concentrating. "They think she can help us." She said and Elena looked at Stefan hopefully. "Can they tell you who she is?" She asked, turning back to Bonnie, who opened her eyes and sighed.

"They won't tell me." She said and both Stefan and Elena sighed. "That's no fair." Elena said and Bonnie chuckled. "She'll reveal herself when the time is right." Bonnie said and Stefan raised an eyebrow. "Says you?" He asked and she shook her head. "Says the witches." Elena smiled and turned to Stefan. "We should probably go. I don't think we're gonna get any answers on killing Klaus right now." She said and they all nodded and headed towards the door.

Right before Bonnie exited the room, she felt a breeze hit her, making her turn around. Once she did, she saw the flames from the candles that lit the room come together and form the letter R in the air before completely extinguishing themselves. Elena walked back when she saw that Bonnie wasn't behind her and looked at her friend concernedly.

"Is everything okay?" She asked and Bonnie shrugged her shoulders. "They showed me the letter R." She said and Elena scratched her head. "The letter R? Why would they do that?" She asked. "Maybe it stands for something? I don't know." Bonnie replied right as Stefan rejoined them. "We'll figure it out tomorrow. Let's go." He said and the two girls reluctantly followed him.

* * *

_**Elsewhere In Mystic Falls**_

"So this where you grew up, mom?" Raina Kingsley asked her mother as she stared at the picturesque town from the window of her family's car. "Yeah this is it. Mystic Falls." Her mother, Ava, responded to her daughter with a small smile on her face. "How long has it been since you last were here?" Raina asked, her curiosity peaking the second they passed the welcome sign of her mother's hometown.

Growing up in her father's hometown of Salem, Massachusetts, you'd assume that Raina was told many things about her mothers' but that wasn't the case. Ava vaguely spoke about the place where she was born, mentioning it only when an important event or her now deceased parents were involved somehow.

"Too long, actually." Ava surprisingly responded to her daughter, shocking her and her husband Brandon. "I think it was the funeral…" Brandon said, budding into the conversation but stopped himself when he remembered that Ava didn't like talking about that. "Either way, it's our home now." He said and pulled up to the house they bought. They began getting out of the car, Raina grabbing the bag that she had in the seat next to her and got out of the back of the car, standing next to her parents as they all looked judgingly at the house.

"What do you think?" Brandon asked, putting his arm around his daughters and looked down at her face. "I like our house in Salem better. Mom?" She said with a shrug and turned to her mother for her opinion. "I like it. It has a certain feel to it that I can't really name." Ava said and gave her daughter a small smile, noticing something around her neck that she hadn't seen before.

"When did you get this?" She asked, lightly examining the amulet around Raina's neck. "Nana gave it to me before we left." She said and Brandon chuckled to himself. "Witches amulet." He said, the volume of his voice lowering so only his wife and daughter could hear him. "She wanted to make sure you were properly prepared for anything that might happen while we're here." Ava said knowingly, her tone matching that of her husband.

Raina found out about the magical side of her family when she was fairly young, her father and mother both sitting her down to explain magic to their child. At first, she was in a state of disbelief, believing that what her parents were saying fell in lines with the stories and myths her grandmother usually told her but she actually believed it when her father demonstrated it for her, making some of her stuffed animals dance around her room. She was in awe of this and began embracing the gift she'd been given from her father's side of the family and welcomed any kind of training or guidance her family wanted to give her.

"Can we go inside now? I wanna start getting settled in." Raina suggested and both Ava and Brandon nodded in agreement. "Yes. And you have to get ready for your first day of school tomorrow." Raina groaned at the reminder of school and sighed. "Did you have to remind me of that horrible thought? It sucks being the new kid." She said and her parents laughed at her outburst. "I'm sure it'll all be fine." She said and began guiding her daughter towards the house.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The next day, Ava drove Raina to Mystic Falls High and looked at the school before focusing on her daughter. "So here we are." She said and Raina sighed and leaned her head against the headboard.

"Don't remind me. Has it changed this much since you went here?" She asked her mother, making Ava chuckle. "I didn't go here. I went to the same boarding school as your father in Massachusetts." She said."Do I really have to start school today? I mean, I can stay home with you and get the house ready." Raina suggested, not even caring that she volunteered herself for more work but Ava shook her head, not listening to Raina's protests.

"You have to start today. You're already a bit behind since the year already started. And I already have most of the house organized. Now go." Raina groaned again and reluctantly got out of the car and began walking into the school. "Have a good day!" She heard her mother call out to her so she turned around and gave her a quick wave as she kept walking but before she knew it she had walked into someone and quickly fell to the ground.

"I'm so sorry." A deep voice said to her and Raina let out a nervous chuckle and shook it off. "It's my fault. I wasn't watching where I was going." She said and began getting up, only to see a hand extended to help her up. "Are you new here?" The guy asked as Raina stood up and began brushing herself off. "Is it that obvious? Yeah it's my first day." She said with a small chuckle and brushed her hair behind her ears.

"Mystic Falls is a pretty small town. Everyone usually knows everyone. Do you need someone to show you around? I'm Matt. Matt Donovan." Raina shook her head at the boys offer but smiled at him as if it was to thank him for offering in the first place. "Raina Kingsley. And thank you but I think I'll manage. I don't want you to be late or anything because you were being nice to the newbie." She said and Matt laughed, making Raina mentally swoon.

"It's really not a problem." He insisted and despite Raina's head screaming at her to do otherwise, she stood her ground. "You can show me where the office is. From there I got it covered." She said, and Matt nodded, putting his hand on her back and guiding her through the crowd of students in the direction of the office.

Matt walked Elena to the outside of the office and after about a minute of convincing him to leave, Raina walked in and began talking to one of the secretaries about her schedule and locker. "Okay, Raina. I think you're all set." The secretary said as she handed Raina a map of the school, her schedule, and a small paper with her locker combination. "I hope you enjoy your time here at Mystic Falls High." Raina smiled at the woman and nodded, tucking a stray hair behind her ear.

"Thank you very much. I should get going to my first class." She said and the nurse looked over her shoulder at the schedule. "You have Mr. Saltzman. Lucky for you, he just walked in." The secretary pointed towards the place in the office where the teacher's mail went and directed Raina in the direction of the tall, dark haired man. Raina took a deep breath and walked over to him, lightly tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Excuse me sir." She said, making Alaric turn to her and looked at her slightly confused. "Elena." He said aloud without thinking and Raina shook her hair and grew confused. "Umm, no. My name is Raina Kingsley." Alaric looked closer at the girl standing in front of him and chuckled to cover his mistake. "I'm sorry, Raina was it?" He said and the girl nodded. "You just look similar to one of my other students. How can I help you?" Raina nodded at his reasoning and quickly dispelled a breath of air.

"You're my first period teacher and the secretary suggested that I walk with you so I know where I'm going." Raina turned and pointed to the woman she was talking about, who smiled and waved at Alaric, making him laugh and he nodded his head in agreement. "Sounds like a good plan. Let's go."

Elena, Stefan and Bonnie took their seats in the history classroom of Mystic Falls High School, waiting for the class to begin. "Do you know what's keeping Alaric? He's usually not late." Elena whispered to Stefan, only to see him shake his head no in response. "He's probably in the office or something." Bonnie said, opening her notebook.

"Have you spoken to Caroline today?" She asked and Elena shook her head. "I tried calling her this morning but she didn't answer." Elena said and simultaneously, the door opened and Alaric walked in the room, being followed by a girl unfamiliar to them all.

"New girl." Bonnie said and Stefan looked over at Elena. "She sort of looks like you." He whispered and Elena quickly but carefully examined her. "She does, doesn't she?" Elena said as Alaric began trying to get the classes attention.

"Okay, before we start, we have a new student joining us. Why don't you tell the class a little about yourself." He said and the girl nodded and cleared her throat.

"Well, my name is Raina. I'm 17 and I was born in Massachusetts." She said and turned to Alaric. "Any specific hobbies you'd like to share?" He asked and Raina thought for a few seconds before answering. "I like to read." She said and Alaric nodded. "What's your favorite books?" He asked and Raina ran her fingers though her hair nervously as she stood in front of the class and tried to pinpoint some of her favorite books. "'Catcher in the Rye', 'The Great Gatsby' 'Wuthering Heights' and 'The Crucible'." She said finally. "Nice choices. Now if you'll take that empty seat behind Elena, we'll get started with the lesson for the day." Alaric said, pointing towards Elena and Raina nodded and headed towards the empty seat.

After class was over, Elena turned around and caught Raina's attention as she started putting her things away. "I'm Elena." She said, extending her hand out. "Raina Kingsley." Raina replied, shaking her hand. When they did, both Elena and Raina both felt a strange surge flow through them and quickly let go of one another. Elena quickly regained her composure and cleared her throat before saying anything else.

"Umm, this is my boyfriend Stefan and my best friend Bonnie." Elena said once Stefan and Bonnie walked over. "Nice to meet you both." Raina said, looking at her hand oddly, still distressed about what happened with Elena a few minutes before. "How are you liking Mystic Falls, Raina?" Stefan asked and she just sighed and looked up at them. "I don't know. I haven't really seen anything yet." She responded and Elena raised an eyebrow.

"Well then maybe you, me, and Bonnie can hang out. We can show you all around Mystic Falls." She said and Bonnie nodded in agreement. "Please. It'll be fun." She said and Raina let out a small smile. "Sure that sounds nice." She said, and Elena began taking out her phone and handing it to Raina to put her number in. "I'll call you and we can figure out a day." She said as Raina handed the phone back and smiled. "Sounds good." She said and picked up her bag. "I guess I'll see you guys around then." She said before getting up and heading towards the door. "It was nice meeting you, Raina." Stefan said and she gave him a small smile and wave before leaving the room.

* * *

**Elsewhere**

"Ava, it's so nice to see you again." Carol Lockwood said, greeting Ava as she walked into her office at the town hall. "Nice to see you too, Carol. Or should I say Mayor Lockwood." Ava responded jokingly as she sat in the chair across from Carol's desk. "It's so nice seeing you again. How can I help you?" She said and Ava let out a small sigh.

"I was wondering if I could have a seat on the council." She said and Carol's eyes widened at the request. "Ava…" she said, ready to make up a bogus reason for her to say no but Ava stopped her before she had the chance. "I already know what the council does. And I think that me and my husband can help, but before you say no, let me and Brandon throw a dinner party for the council and their families. We get everyone together at our house and talk everything over and then you can make a decision." Carol thought over Ava's suggestion and nodded, thinking it sounded like a good idea. "Alright. That sounds fair. I'll let the council know." She responded and Ava smiled at the woman. "Thank you so much Carol." She said and the older woman returned the smile.

* * *

**Back In School**

"She seems nice." Elena said and Stefan looked at her suspiciously. "What was with the quick break of the handshake?" He asked and Elena shrugged. "I don't know." She said, trying to brush it off and Stefan pushed the subject. "Elena…" He said and she sighed in defeat. "It just felt weird." She said and Bonnie sighed.

"Something's off." Bonnie said and Elena turned around suspiciously. "With Raina?" She asked and Bonnie shrugged. "Off in general." She said. "I think we need to do a little background check on Raina." Stefan said as the classroom door opened and Alaric and Damon came inside.

"No need. Ava Kingsley, Raina's mom invited the council and their families over for dinner tonight." Damon said with a smirk on his face. "You compelled him." Stefan said and Alaric shook his head. "Apparently, it was her idea. She was born here and wants to be part of the council." He said and Stefan nodded before reaching for Elena's hand. "I guess we'll find out when we get to her house." He said and they headed towards their next class.


	3. Chapter 3

**Umm...Quick little Author Note here. When I uploaded this earlier today, I was rushing to post it because I was about to leave my house. But then I realized that I hadn't met the daily word count for NaNoWriMo plus there was a whole part missing that I didn't have the chance to write so I'm reposting this.**

* * *

After her first class and meeting Elena, Stefan and Bonnie, Raina's day was kind of dull. She went to the rest of her classes, introduced herself to her classmates, and sat in her seat and tried to follow along with the lesson. But no matter what she did, she kept going back to her weird encounter with Elena. From the moment their hands touched, it was almost as if there was some kind of electrical current surging between the two of them and out of all the things Raina had seen and experienced, that was by far one of the oddest.

Instead of calling one of her parents to pick her up as soon as the day was over, Raina decided it would be best for her to walk home, mainly to help familiarize herself with her new surroundings. She walked passed a group of teenagers heading towards the school parking lot and turned down a block that she remembered passing during the few car rides she'd taken since being in Mystic Falls.

As she was walking, Raina heard a faint buzzing noise coming from her bag and quickly began searching through it until she pulled out her phone and answered before whomever it was were sent to voice mail.

* * *

"Hello." She said briskly, readjusting the bag on her shoulders now that she had found what she was searching for and continued on her walk. "What happened to 'I'll call you as soon as we get there' huh?" A familiar voice responded into the receiver in a mocking and slightly upset tone and Raina began laughing. "Sorry, Ave." She quickly retorted, understanding her best friends frustration with her. "I meant to but I literally passed out when we got here. And then I had to go to school today." She said and Avery just sighed. "All these excuses doesn't get you out of calling me. But you can make up for it by telling me all about your first day."

As Raina began giving Avery the details of what had happened to her, she couldn't help but get this strange feeling as though she was being watched. Each time she crossed a street or turned a corner, she felt as though there was always someone right behind her. She briefly ended one of her sentences and turned around to check to see if anyone was there and let out a sigh of relief when no one was there. "Are you still there or are you neglecting me more?" she asked and Raina hesitantly put the phone back to her ear. "I'm here, Avery. Just having a strange sense of Deja Vu."

* * *

After a little while, Raina walked into her new house and was greeted in the foyer by her parents. "How'd your first day go?" Her mother asked as she headed for the stairs to go to her room. "Fine." She said not turning to her mother. "Make any new friends" Brandon asked and Raina chuckled and stopped midway up the stairs. "It's only been a day Daddy. But I did meet some people. And I spoke to Avery on my way home." She said and Ava smiled. "I'm glad. I'm sure she really misses you."

Avery and Raina had been friends ever since the two of them were born, their mothers always setting up play dates and whatnot for them and from there, their friendship blossomed. They promised one another that they'd always be friends, but the move to Mystic Falls made things harder for them.

"By the way, we're having a dinner party here in a few hours so I need you to help your father make something for the party." Raina walked back downstairs and into the kitchen and raised an eyebrow after seeing her family's Grimwoire on the table. "Make what?" she said, looking over at her father. "I just need a little help putting this in the ice tea." Brandon said, holding up a plant that Raina instantly recognized.

"Vervain?" She asked and her father nodded. "When I brew it with the tea, bits of it always appear in the tea, but you make it perfectly undetectable sweetheart." He said and Raina sighed. "I have homework to do. And besides, why do we need to put vervain in the tea anyway?" She said and Brandon put his arm around her shoulder. "It's just precautionary sweetheart. Mystic Falls has a history of…" He started but Ava cleared her throat to stop him and he sighed. "We just want to make sure nothing happens to you while we're here." He said and Ava nodded in agreement. "It shouldn't take you too long to brew the tea sweetie." She said and her daughter reluctantly nodded and headed to the cabinets by the fridge and took out the mortar and pestle and began crushing the vervain for the tea.

* * *

As people started arriving at their house for this dinner party, Raina smiled and nodded as people passed her and headed into the living room. 'When can I stop smiling?' She thought to herself and felt her mom put her arm around her shoulder.

"You okay, sweetheart?" She asked and Raina let out a heavy sigh and shook her head no. "I'm bored. Can't I just go in the living room or something?" She asked and Ava chuckled at her daughter. "You're only bored because there's no one your own age here." She said as the doorbell rang again. "Hopefully this is someone with children." Ava said walking with Raina to the door and opening it to Jenna, Alaric, Elena, Jeremy, Stefan, Damon, Caroline and Bonnie, her eyes pausing at the familiar face.

"Alaric." Ava said and Alaric looked at her in awe. "Ava. I didn't know you came back to Mystic Falls. Or that you were Raina's mother." He said and Ava moved aside and invited them all in. "My husband and I wanted to show Raina some of my background instead of immersing her in Brandons'. I didn't know you knew Raina." She said and Alaric looked around awkwardly. "He's my history teacher." Raina said and Alaric nodded in agreement. "That's good. Now at least I know Raina will at least learn something in History this year." Ava said and Alaric chuckled at the joke.

"I'm Jenna Sommers." Jenna said, extending her hand to Ava and she shook it. "These are my niece and nephew Elena and Jeremy." She said and they both shook Ava's hand. "I met Raina in school today. I didn't know you were having a dinner party." Elena said, focusing her attention on Raina and she just shrugged her shoulders. "Neither did I actually. My parents' sprung it on me when I got home." Stefan shook Eva's hand and smiled over to Raina. "I'm Stefan Salvatore. And that is my brother Damon." He said, pointing to Damon who smirked at her and headed into the kitchen to see who else was there. "Salvatore." Raina said, taking note of the name before continuing with introductions. "Caroline Forbes." Caroline said, shaking both Raina and Ava's hands and smiling. "Bonnie Bennett. Thank you for inviting us into your home." She said and Ava gave her a genuine smile and led them all out the hall and left them in the living room to mingle.

* * *

"This is a nice house, Raina." Elena said as she looked around the nicely decorated room. "What does your father do?" Stefan asked as Raina sat on the couch. "He's a Anthropology Professor." She said, pouring a cup of the tea that she made earlier. "He's teaching at this college not too far from here."Raina said and took a sip of her tea. "What about your mom?" Caroline asked as they all began pouring glasses of tea for themselves. "My mom was a nurse. She stays home for the most part now." She said looking around at them all drink the tea and stood up once Damon, Stefan, and Caroline started choking. "What the hell is in that?" Jeremy asked and Elena sighed. "Vervain." She said as Raina quickly got up from her seat and closed the door before anyone in the other room noticed.

"What's going on Raina?" Elena asked and Raina sighed. "It was my dad's idea." She said, and quickly began listening to the door to make sure her no one was coming. "He wouldn't tell me why he wanted to put vervain in the tea. But now I can see why."

She said and Bonnie looked at her confusingly. "How'd you even get vervain so fast? You just moved here." She asked and Raina ran her hand through her hair. "We have a place. We stopped there before we came. Are you guys okay?" She asked, kneeling down to help Damon, who was the closest one to her, regain his composure.

When he stood up, Damon lunged at Raina and pinned her against the wall. "I'm fine. But she won't be." He said and Stefan began walking over to him. "Damon don't…" He started but stopped in his tracks when he saw Damon reach for his head, fall to the ground and begin writhing in pain. Stefan looked up at Raina and there was a grey ring around her iris's get brighter as Damon cringed more.

"You're a witch." Bonnie said, and smiled to herself as Raina's' eyes returned to normal and Damon stopped twitching. "You're the one the witches spirits told me about." Bonnie said and Raina shrugged. "I have no idea what you're talking about or who told you anything but yeah. I'm a witch." Jeremy looked at her intrigued. "For how long?" He asked Alexa as she chuckled. "My whole life. I've always know about it." She said and turned to Alaric. "Now it's my turn for questions."

* * *

"How do you know my mother?" Raina asked, looking around the room in search of an answer but focused the question towards Alaric. "Your mom knew my wife. Well, my ex-wife." He said and Raina nodded. "Isobel." She said and Elena looked over at the girl in confusion.

"You knew Isobel?" She asked, slightly growing confused at the turn of the conversation. "Vaguely. My mother spoke of her but never let me see her when she came to visit." Elena scratched her head in confusion before turning to Damon and Stefan. "Why would Isobel actually keep in contact with her?" She asked and Raina lightly chuckled. "I wouldn't say that they kept in contact. Every now and then, Isobel would drop by, my mom would talk to her on the porch, and when she came back inside, she was almost always in a bad mood." She said and Damon chuckled. "That sounds about right. Isobel and her sunny disposition."

Raina rolled her eyes and discreetly began surveying the room, stopping when she felt some kind of vibe from Alaric. "There's something you're not saying." She said and Alaric let out a deep sigh, bringing attention to himself from everyone in the room. "Evidently, there are things Ava and Brandon aren't saying either." Damon said and Raina turned to him.

"Don't make me kill you." She said and Damon took a few steps towards her, a smug look on his face. "Do you really think you can do that, little girl?" He asked and the frown on her face turned into an almost cocky smile. "I know I can. Without as so much of batting an eye too. So if I we're you, I wouldn't try me." Raina took a few steps closer to Damon, bridging the gap in between them and forcing Damon's surrender. "Fine. You win for now." He said, putting his arms up and backing away from the brunette with a smirk on his face.

"What do you know?" She said, brushing off the altercation with Damon and focusing her attention back onto Alaric. "Raina, you should really be having this conversation with your parents." He said, trying not to be the bearer of this news. "But I'm having it with you. And you have no reason to keep things from me." She said and Alaric sighed.

"If you know something Alaric, now's the time to speak up." Elena chimed in, stepping next to Raina. Alaric stared at both girls side by side and could barely believe his eyes. The two of them look so alike it was uncanny but that just provided more truth behind the info he had.

"Ava and Isobel were related; Sisters." He said, causing everyone to look around the room in shock. "That means..." Raina started but Elena cut her off, finishing the statement she knew was about to come out of Raina's mouth. "We're cousins."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"I can't believe this." Raina said, running her hands through her hair out of frustration. "Why would they keep something like this from me?" Raina's parents had always been nothing but honest with Raina and for the most part, she was the same way with them.

She looked over at Elena, who had a similar look on her face, and her mind began to race. The two of them really did look very similar, so much as though they could be sisters. Alaric's initial confusion of the two of them made much more sense to her now.

"Maybe they don't know about me." Elena suggested and Raina raised her eyebrow in slight confusion. "What do you mean?" Stefan walked over to Elena and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, offering some sort of comfort to his girlfriend as she tried to wrap her head around this new news.

"Elena was adopted by her aunt and uncle on her dad's side. She only found out that Isobel was her mother and John Gilbert was her father a few months ago." Stefan said and Jeremy nodded. "John is our Uncle. He's been popping in and out of town ever for most of our lives but more so now that being Elena's father is common knowledge in the family."

Raina nodded at everything that was just said to her, piling it with the rest of the news that was dropped in her lap and let out a deep sigh. "He came to see my parents too. Sometimes with Isobel. So why wouldn't either of them say anything if they apparently had so much to talk about?" Raina asked and everyone's eyes widened in shock again. "John visited you too?" Elena asked, even though Raina had just said so and had no reason to lie to any of them. "This really doesn't make any sense." She said and leaned her head on Stefan's shoulder.

"What exactly would John and Isobel have to talk about to two random people?" Damon asked and Raina looked at him, slightly annoyed. "Look at the facts, girly." He said, extending his arms as if he was presenting something. "Your mom and Isobel weren't exactly close and neither of them even knew Gilbert so what would they have to talk about?"

"That's exactly what we need to find out." Stefan said and Raina shook her head. "What I need to find out." She said folding her arms across her chest. "I mean, other than Elena, I don't see how this affects any of you. So it's really none of your business."

Alaric shook his head and cleared his throat. "Isobel was a vampire." He said and Raina looked at her History teacher slightly confused. "Was. What does that mean?" She asked and he rubbed the back of his neck, despite moving on from his wife, talking about her was still awkward and unsettling. "She's dead. She was trying to protect me from Klaus, an original vampire, but she ended up killing herself." Elena finished for him, knowing that as much as Alaric wanted to deny it, Isobel was still a sore subject for him.

"Original Vampire…" Raina said to herself, quickly racking her brain for something her grandmother told her about them. "I'll talk to my parents." She said, not looking up at any of the people in the room and began fiddling with the amulet around her neck, obviously deep in thought.

"Raina…" Stefan started, picking up on the fact that she might know something more than she said, but Elena cleared her throat and stopped him from pressing things further, understanding completely that her newfound cousin was just bombarded with a ton of things that she needed to process. "When you do talk to them, let me know what they tell you." She said, offering Raina a small smile and she nodded in agreement.

"Well now that we got those dramatics out of the way, you and I have a meeting to sit in on." Damon said, signaling to Alaric before heading towards the doors. "Don't mention anything that we just talked about in there." Raina said, turning to both of them before they walked out the door. "Not a word until I talk to them." Alaric nodded understandably at her and pushed Damon out of the room before he had the chance to spew some kind of snarky remark.

**In The Dining Room**

Damon and Alaric walked across the hall to what seemed to be meeting between the members of the council already underway. "You'd think they'd wait for everyone." Damon murmured under his breath as he and Alaric slipped in the room and watched as Brandon and Ava addressed the group.

"So, Mystic Falls has an infamous history of being home to all things supernatural, preferably vampires." Brandon said as he took a sip of the vervain-laced tea Raina brewed earlier. "Much like my hometown of Salem is known for breeding witches and hunters. And in our hometown, my family and I have managed to make sure that a state of peace is maintained in the town, getting rid of any possible threat that might get in the way of that. We're more than willing to do the same with you if you're willing to give us the chance."

Brandon's cool, relaxed demeanor seemed to slightly confuse the members of the council. Unlike with Ava, they hadn't seen him many times after he and Ava were married, him opting to stay home with Raina as Ava did what she had to here. They weren't used to seeing someone so laid back talk about attacking and killing "threats" but they seemed intrigued by the things he was saying and were close to accepting the offer before Damon interjected and made himself known in the room.

"That's all fine and dandy, but why was one of the first things you did after you got here trying to join the council?" He asked, causing a small smile to appear on Brandon's face. He was about to answer but was stopped by his wife, who put her hand up to stop him from engaging before turning her attention to Damon.

"Well Mr. Salvatore, we didn't feel the need to wait." Ava said plainly. "I mean, being hesitant and biding time just increases the difficulty of the situation. We believe that striking hard and fast is the best way to go about these things." Brandon smiled sweetly at his wife before deciding to add to her statement.

"My wife makes a good point. Handling these things before it gets out of hand is the best way to go about things but we also have our personal reasons for wanting to help." He said, making both Damon and Alaric's ears perk up at the revelation. "Back in Salem, our daughter Raina was approached by a vampire. It didn't have the chance to do anything to her, but it still shook up her mother and me so we decided to move so she would be safe."

Ava continued to discreetly look at Damon as her husband spoke, silently wondering why he was so interested in her family to herself. Once he began speaking about what happened to Raina, she became present in the conversation again, nodding in agreement with what Brandon said about their daughter's safety. "Our daughter is well prepared to protect herself if she ever encounters a vampire but we don't want her to have to resort to those methods." She said, looking up at her husband and smiling. "If there's a way that we can make things safer, not just for our daughter, but for all of us, we want to be a part of it."

Brandon wrapped his arm around his wife and smiled down at her as the town council members quietly conversed among themselves, quickly coming to a unanimous decision about whether or not to let them join. "Let me be the one to say from all of us, welcome to the council, Ava and Brandon." Carol Lockwood said with a smile and moved over to hug the couple in celebration.

**Back in the Living Room**

Raina sat on the couch by herself and played with one of the spoons set out with the tea as everyone else casually sat around the room conversing. Bonnie walked over at the brunette and sat next to her, giving her a small smile as she did. "How are you doing? Dealing with all of this?" She asked and Raina lightly chuckled before setting the spoon down and turning to Bonnie. "I honestly don't know. But I'll let you know when Things have processed." Normally when Raina had some kind of problem, she called Avery and she came over and helped her deal with whatever was on her mind but since Avery was hundreds of miles away, that wasn't possible so Raina didn't know what to do.

"So you're a witch too?" She asked, happy to change the subject off of herself. Bonnie nodded at the question but was slightly puzzled. "How could you tell?" She asked, wondering how Raina was able to tell by sight that she was a witch too. "Your amulet gave it away, actually. My nana gave me one like it before I came here so I just assumed. And you seemed to be way to happy when you found out that I was one." Raina said and Bonnie laughed. "That would do it. My grams gave me this one as well and other than the ones in my family, I've never met another living witch before." Raina chuckled and nodded at the girl sitting next to her before raising her arm lightly over the spoon, causing it to levitate from the table and move into the air in between them.

Bonnie smiled at the small trick and was about to join her in the small display of power until the doors flew open and Damon and Alaric walked back in. "Meetings over, we're skipping dinner. Let's go." Damon said, before giving Raina another quick look and heading towards the door. Everyone else looked around in confusion for a few moments before saying some sort of goodbye to Raina and leaving. Elena was the last one to leave but she stopped and lightly tapped Raina's shoulder to get her attention.

"Call me if you want to talk or whatever." She said and Raina offered her a small smile in return. "You too. And I'll let you know what happens when I talk to my parents." After Raina countered her offer, Elena nodded and leaned in to give the girl a hug. They both were expecting some kind of spark to happen like it did the first time they touched but this time, nothing happened. After a few moments, Elena pulled away and gave her cousin another small smile before heading towards the door to meet up with Stefan and head home.

Once the room was completely empty, Raina walked out of the living room and headed upstairs to her room, locking the door and began getting ready for bed. She heard the house begin to clear out Ava came upstairs and turned the knob, lightly knocking once she realized that it was locked. "Raina, honey are you alright?" She asked through the door and Raina just stood in her room and stared at the door. "Raina?" Her mother called out again but Raina refused to answer. As much as she knew that she had to talk to her parents, she didn't want to do it now and hear the reason why they were keeping things from her. So she got in her bed and closed her eyes, ready to push everything she found out today out her mind for a little while before having no choice but to confront it. A few moments later, Raina found herself falling into a welcomed slumber, unknowingly preparing Raina for the battles she would be facing in the day to come.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The next morning, Raina woke up and sluggishly began getting herself ready for school. As she did, the events from the night before began replaying over and over in her head and she couldn't get over the fact that her parents had been lying to her for god knows how long. She was dreading facing them but she knew that she couldn't just ignore them like she wanted to. They we're her parents, for gods sake and even though she hated the idea of being in the dark, there had to have been a good enough reason. Not confronting her parents wasn't an option, but that didn't mean that she had to do it right away.

After she was showered and dressed, Raina crept out of her room and sneakily walked down the stairs and out of her house, without stopping into the kitchen, knowing that her parents would most likely be there waiting for her as it was usually her last stop before she left the house.

Once she was out the door and on the porch, inching the door shut, she was met by an unsuspecting figure, quickly startling her but as she turned around and focused her vision, she saw Elena standing before her.

"Hey." She said and Raina put her finger over her lips and began walking off of her porch. "I'm avoiding my parents." She said and Elena nodded knowingly, following the girl down the stoned walkway. "So I guess that means that you haven't talked to them yet." She asked and Raina just shook her head and let out a heavy sigh as they began walking down the street. "I have no idea what to say to them." She admitted, brushing her hair to one side and lightly shrugging. "It doesn't seem like the easiest thing to bring up in casual conversation." Elena added, trying to sympathize with the brunette.

Strangely, Raina felt very at ease and comfortable around Elena, and being that she had only met her a day or so ago, it was strange. It was then that she realized that she didn't know why the girl was there in the first place.

"I completely spaced. Here I am venting about being afraid to talk to my parents and you probably stopped by for a reason and I didn't even let you explain what it was." She said offering a small smile and Elena shook it off. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay." She said. "I mean, last night was a lot to process and we are family after all. We look out for one another, right?" She offered and Raina let out a small chuckle. "Right."

As they continued walking in a somewhat comfortable silence, Elena was hit with an epiphany. "I just realized that we know absolutely nothing about one another." She said and Raina laughed. "This is true." She said and began racking her brain as to how they can fix that without it being absolutely awkward. "21 questions?" Elena offered and Raina nodded. "10 now and 11 later because I can't think of 21 questions this morning." She said and Elena laughed. "Works for me. I'll go first." She said and began thinking about her first question.

"Who's your best friend?" She asked and Raina answered without hesitation. "Her name is Avery Clark. She still lives in Salem. We've been best friends for as long as I can remember." She said and Elena smiled at the joy she saw on her face when she spoke about her friend. "And I'm assuming Bonnie is yours?" She asked and Elena nodded in agreement. "Caroline too. And I have pretty much the same story. We've gone through a lot together. Especially as of late." She said and Raina nodded. "Does Avery know about..." Elena started to ask and Raina cut her off and nodded. "I told her when I was 9. I basically showed her the same way my parents showed me; I made her barbies dance around the room." She said and Elena laughed at the thought. "We never had normal tea parties after that."

"Okay my turn for a question." Raina said and began trying to think of one. "I know. First boyfriend." She said and Elena sighed. "Matt Donovan." She said and Raina raised her eyebrow. "Blonde hair, blue eyes, insanely cute laugh?" She asked and Elena nodded in agreement, chuckling at the implied notion that she had already met him. "I met him yesterday. He offered to show me around but I basically forced him to only walk me to the office." Raina said and Elena laughed. "Yeah, that's Matt. He's insanely sweet." Hearing Elena talk about him slightly confused Raina because if she held him at such a high regard, why wouldn't they still be together? "How'd things end?" She asked and Elena's smile lightly faltered and she sighed. "My parents died and I wanted to do some soul searching. I was having a bit of an identity crisis and I didn't want to put him through my drama." She said and Raina nodded understandably.

"My first boyfriend was this guy named Eli." She said and Elena chuckled as Raina began describing him. "He wasn't that tall, not all that strong or buff either. But he was really sweet and he got me somehow. That's what made me fall for him." She said and Elena smiled knowing the feeling. "We broke up when his family moved to Anchorage and the whole long distance thing didn't work out." She said and Elena nodded.

"Well crap, we spaced on one of the most important fact thingys. When's your birthday?" She asked with a small chuckle and Elena joined in. "You're right. That is real important. My birthday is on June 22nd." She said and Raina stopped dead in her tracks. "You're serious?" She asked and Elena nodded. "Yeah, why? When's yours?" She asked and Raina sighed. "June 22nd."

"I don't believe this." Elena said with a shrug and Raina ran her hands through her hair, equally confused as her cousin. "How can we have been born on the same exact day in the same year?" Elena asked and Raina shrugged. "And it's not like it was planned because my mom was at boarding school when I was conceived and born. That much I do know." She said and Elena nodded. "Well there's another thing to talk to your parents about when you feel up to the task." She said and Raina just turned around and began heading back towards her house instead of towards the school; tired of being in the dark and finding things out from other people that she should have learned from her parents. She wanted answers and they were the people to give them to her.

* * *

"You two owe me answers." Raina said, slamming her bag on the kitchen counter to emphasize her point. "You're supposed to be at school." Brandon said to his daughter causing her to scoff in return. "And you two are supposed to be honest with me. But obviously because I'm the child and you're the adult, I'm the one in the wrong." She said and her parents began looking back and forth between one another. "But you're right. I'm the horrible person who's supposed to be in history with your brother-in-law learning about the war of 1812 and you two are freaking saints." Ava looked over at her husband shockingly before turning back to Raina at a loss of words.

"Who told you about that?" Brandon asked, sensing his wife's shock at the way this inevitable conversation with their daughter seemed to be going. "Mr. Saltzman did last night. It seems like it was an eventful evening for all of us." Raina said before turning her attention to her mother.

"We also had a nice little conversation about Isobel. You know, your sister; my aunt; Elena's birth mom. Ring any bells, mom?" She asked and Ava's jaw practically hit the floor out of shock. Brandon began walking over towards his wife in an attempt to comfort her but Ava raised her hand up to stop him and began regaining her composure.

"I don't care how upset you are, you're not going to talk to your mother like that." Brandon said and Ava shook her head at her husband. "It's alright, honey. She has every right to be angry at us. She's right. We've been deceitful." Ava took a deep breath and momentarily closed her eyes before turning her attention to Raina and finally talking to her.

"Sweetheart, I don't know what you think you know…" she started, causing Raina to scoff in disbelief in the middle of her mother's statement. "… But there's more to the story. It's not as black and white as you're making it seem." Raina ran both her hands through her hair and dispelled a deep breath of air before looking towards her mother.

"I don't know any part of the story because you lied to me." She said and Ava shook her head at her daughter, beginning to move towards her in an attempt to comfort her. "Raina…" She said and Raina took a step back, furthering the distance between them.

"You two expect me to be completely honest with you, but you don't give me that same respect. And It's not even a 'you're the parents, I'm the child so therefore I can keep whatever I want from you' situation, there's craziness going on here and I need to know what you know so I can be just as prepared as you." She said and her father nodded his head knowingly at her.

"We were trying to keep you out of this for as long as we possibly could to protect you." He said but saw that it had no effect on his daughter. There was a lack of trust in her eyes that showed no signs of leaving them anytime soon and it broke Brandon and Ava's hearts.

"If you would just let us explain things…" Ava said, her voice on the verge of tears but Raina just shook her head and picked up her bag. "I can't even be around you two right now. We've only been here a few days but Mystic Falls has already changed you two." She said and began walking out of the kitchen and out of the house, ignoring her name being repeatedly being yelled by her parents.


	6. Chapter 6 (Unedited)

Raina left the house in a flash and in one swift motion, she knocked into a figure that was in the middle of walking up the walkway. "Going somewhere, Road Runner?" The figure asked, lightly grabbing at her arm. Raina looked up at him, revealing Damon in front of her. "Anywhere that's away from this house and my lying parents." She said shaking out of his grasp. Damon looked over the girl before letting out a deep sigh and began walking down the path, signaling for her to follow him.

"Come with me." He said and Raina sarcastically chuckled in amusement. "And where do you think you're trying to take me?" She asked and Damon just smirked at her. "Just trust me." He said. Raina took a few steps forward and raised an eyebrow at Damon, folding her arms across her chest in the process. "I barely know you and you're a vampire that tried to kill me last night. How about no." She said, causing Damon to chuckle from amusement. "Elena trusts me. That has to work for something in your book right?" He asked and Raina thought about it for a few seconds before reluctantly agreeing. "If anything happens to me…" She said and Damon put his right hand over his heart and raised his left as if he were a boy scout. "Nothing bad will happen to you, I swear." He said and continued walking, now with Raina in tow, to the mystery location.

After a bit of walking, Damon and Raina ended up at the Mystic Grill. "Why are we here?" Raina asked as Damon walked over towards the pool table and picked up one of the sticks. "You need to blow off steam and it was either pool or bourbon." He said and Raina chuckled, picking up another stick and using the blue chalk on the tip. "Vodka is actually my drink of choice. But this'll work." She said as Damon got the balls ready to break. "Noted. Now break." He said and Raina knelt down and leaned against the table and made a shot, sinking two solids in the process.

"There's some big reason why we came to Mystic Falls and it has something to do with Elena. I just know it." Raina said as she walked around the table and attempted to sink in another ball. "Did mommy and daddy tell you this?" Damon asked once it was his turn. "I didn't give them the chance but by the way they're acting and all the secrets they're keeping, they really don't have to say anything." She said as she watched Damon take another shot. "Oh." He said and shrugged as he missed and Raina began setting up a new shot.

"Elena and I have the same birthday." She said after the ball went in and leaned against the table, causing Damon to look up at the brunette confused. Hearing this intrigued him even more about the whole situation. The resemblance between the two of them was already uncanning but hearing that they were born on the same day in the same year puzzled him completely. "That's weird." He said and Raina nodded in agreement. "No shit. _Mommy and Daddy_ owe me answers." Raina set up her next shot but instead of moving her pool stick, flashed her eyes briefly so all her balls went into the holes at once. "I win." She said with a satisfied smile on her face and Damon smirked at the girls 'magic trick'.

"Good. Now fun's over. Go talk to your parents." He said and Raina shook her head and sat on the pool table. "Not ready to yet. Let's play another game." She said and Damon stood in front of her, leaning both of his hands on opposite sides of her so she couldn't move. "No games, Raina." He said and slowly began inching towards her. "You talking to them helps everyone." He said and Raina rolled her eyes and hopped off the table, landing in Damon's arms and causing him to smirk in return. "If you wanted to get close to me, all you had to do is ask." He said and Raina quickly shook him off, walking backwards towards the door. "You're a creep, you know that?" She said and Damon just shrugged. "Whatever I am is making you leave and talk to them so I'll take it." He said and Raina rolled her eyes. "I'm going to school. Late is better than never." She said, sarcastically smiling back at him. "But thanks for the game. It was fun." A frown quickly appeared on Damon's face as he watched the brunette leave and reluctantly decided on following her.

"Why are you being so damn stubborn? Just talk to them and get it over with." Damon said, quickly appearing in front of Raina as she began walking down the street in the direction towards the school. "Why do you care so much? What does it matter to you if I talk to my parents or not?" She said, pushing him aside so she could keep walking but internally sighed as she saw him keeping pace with her. "You getting answers means I get answers. We all win when you have a heart to heart with mommy and daddy so hop to it." He said and Raina stopped walking and turned to Damon. "Whatever it is that my parents tell me whenever I decide to talk to them has nothing to do with you. It has to do with Elena…" She said and he cut her off. "Which happens to deal with me. And Stefan, Jeremy, Bonnie, Caroline and just about every person you met last night." He said and Raina rolled her eyes. "Well then maybe I won't say anything. How about that?" She said and Damon's face hardened, realizing that she wasn't going to just roll over and give him what he wanted.

"This isn't a game, Raina." He said and she nodded. "Then stop playing it like one. Not everyone is working an angle. Especially strangers. _I_ just want answers. _You_ want to get close to people by taking them to play pool and acting like a semi-nice human being only to use them for your own personal gain. I'm not that easy, Salvatore." She said and began walking away, before briefly stopping to turn to him. "If you follow me, I swear, you won't be alive to find out what mommy and daddy say." She said with a half smirk before turning away and continuing on with her business, leaving Damon standing there speechless.

As Raina turned the corner, she felt a vibration coming from her pocket. At first she assumed it was her parents and almost decided not to answer it, but before the last vibration hit, she quickly pulled out the phone and answered, hearing an exasperated sigh on the other end. "FINALLY! I've been trying to get a hold of you for days. If you hadn't answered, I was seriously considering flying down there to see what they did to my best friend." Raina smiled and let out a small chuckle as she walked and heard the voice of her best friend on the other end of the phone. "Hey Avery." She said and the voice scoffed in return. "'Hey Avery'? I had to endured days of radio silence from you and all you have to say when I finally get you is 'Hey Avery'?" She asked and Raina chuckled again. "I miss you like crazy. You have no idea how much I want to be home right now." She said, trying to hide the slight hint of sadness in her voice but she knew that Avery would pick it up easily. "Something happened already?" She asked and Raina sighed.

"My parents lied to me." She said and Avery sounded confused. "What about?" She asked. "A lot. Mainly, the entire reason we moved." She said and listened to Avery's slight hesitance as to what to say next. "Now would be a good time to say something." She said and heard her friend let out a nervous chuckle on the other end of the line. "Well, did they tell you the real reason?" She asked and Raina shook her head, knowing that Avery couldn't see her but couldn't deny the natural reaction. "I didn't give them the chance. I got so angry at them for lying and I didn't want to hear it." She admitted and Avery sighed to her friend. "You know that you need to talk to them right?" Avery asked and Raina murmured a small 'mmhmm' into the line. "I mean like now. Turn around, walk to your house and thrash everything out. Better now than later." She said and Raina nodded in agreement and began walking back to her house. "Thanks for the pep talk. I really needed it." She said and Avery chuckled. "It's my job to call you out when you're wrong. Not letting them explain is wrong, Raina. No matter how mad you are. Tell them I say hi by the way." She said and Raina laughed into the phone before looking up at her house again, quickly wondering how she got there as fast as she did. "I will. I call you after everything goes down and tell you everything." She said and hung up the phone.

Then, Raina took another deep breath and walked up the stoned path and turned the doorknob as quickly as she could before she lost her nerve and entered the house, walking back into the house and looking over at her parents. "I ready to talk if you are."


End file.
